I’m absolutely astonished that you skipped over the ridiculous “independence agreement” that french shoved down their former colonies - first right of sale to natural resources is one of the biggest reasons the region is poor
This argument ignores the local dependencies and commerce entirely. Nigeria for example is the main destination for local exports - and the region is not particularly poorer than many other states without any kind of agreements of this kind.
True. Very biased video. It seems like it's trying to sell that France has a bad reputation only because Russia and China managed to grift easily pursuaded Africans into that mindset. 95% truth, 5% lies like all good propaganda. Mind you, it could just be bad research. Most Westerners are this ignorant, also the journalists.
Rwandan here. I think the best way to describe French-African relations can be understood if you imagine all the things America did to South America, then imagine America proceeded to start forcing the South Americans to pay for saving them from "communism".
True, but they could never had done it without at least a significant local minority supporting them, probably assuming, it will get them and their families some advantages.
Here in Sri Lanka, the people are learning, the hard way, that Chinese and Russian imperialism is not much better than Western imperialism. This is a lesson the anti-Westerners in Africa should take note of: the enemy of my enemy isn't always my friend. At least, not in the long run. The second lesson: imperialism is imperialism, no matter the nation that's behind it.
So despite all the wrong they do....we should stick to the west? I know for sure that Russia or China are not any better but atleast a few things will get right. And Actually..... Africa will be treated fairer since it'll have competing powers. And also the problem mentioned in the video is not entirely an African problem. It's some few countries in Africa. ... like 5 atmost out of the 54 countries on the continent
@@katokibugga At this point India and Indonesia has appeared on Asia's geopolical landscape in the most lowkey style as another emerging economic powers. They might be not as fancy as China or Russia but their goverments and companies were now itching to invest some money aborad far away from the fierce competitions on Asia. Of course, at the end of they day they all also had their own T&C's respectively much same like Western powers, China, and Russia.
Considering what France did to West Africa, it would be more surprising to think Africa doesn't hate France, or pretty much any European country Belgium in particular has so much blood on its hand
Besides it's pure english/german propaganda on Belgium, look up the numbers rdc was by far one of the most successfull country in africa back then, Leopold 'massacres' was lowkey propaganda to get it out of his hands.
@DrKenzoTenma That is why the west is scared. Because in future years as African nations become more geopolitical powers they know this hateful resentments will exist against France. And rightfully so if you indepth study what they have done in Africa is really sad relationship. Especially in Algeria war of independance which was not so long ago. People will never forget history. Europeans dont forget the suffering of WW2 so we should not expect Africans forgetting their colonial suffering under the hands of Western colonials powers at the time.
Let me be clear, I'm NOT a fan of the way Russia and China do business. But with even cursory knowledge of how France has treated it's colonies in the past, the surge of anger at their incompetence is understandable.
@@mrsupremegascon French backing of the coup against Sankara of Burkina Faso to install a puppet dictator, for one. There's also just the entirety of the Algerian independence movement, due to France declaring Algeria an integrated part of France and yet refusing to give Algerians many civil rights, with attempts at settler-colonialism. Another former colony (I forgot which, though I wouldn't be surprised if this practice was widespread), when it voted for independence, the French responded by destroying all sorts of infrastructure, from government buildings to schools and hospitals to transportation centers, going as far as to take even the utensils from the fancier buildings. "We left them nothing but their eyes to cry from" - some French colonial officer involved in this. There's also plenty of reporting done on French neocolonial practices in the west African region that continues to this day. I consider my knowledge on the region's history fairly cursory, insofar as I haven't spent much time at all researching this stuff and know more pop history that solid historiography.
As a Nigerian, I agree that France deserves harsh criticism am for their terrible diplomacy in Africa but I also refuse to support the overthrowing of democracies for military dictatorships because that has never worked for us in Africa. And worse, actually inviting groups like Russian mercenaries is even worse than anything.
@@ignatiusryd2031believe me, many of us know how corrupt and banal Russia and China are. My own country is wary of entertaining any serious pacts with either of them.
I fully support these countries breaking away from their former colonial masters. But replacing France with Russia or China isn’t gonna change anything guys Quick edit: as a West African, it’s funny to see non-Africans in the comments try to tell us about our own countries and what we need ☠️ despite never even stepping foot here
China offers better loan packages, and Russia offers no-strings-attached security assistance. So, it's actually a way better deal than what the West offers.
As an african from a country that was colonized by France I'm really disappointed in you guys you went way too fast on the subject and missed so many other reasons on why we hate them
They don't have to cover everything, they can at least not sugar coat it. France has not been doing lots of shady shit in the past but also the present. The video makes it seem like they're just losing the "information war" and had a few hiccups which is far from the bloody truth. Can't expect much from this channel that's clearly euro/western-centric though
Imperialism by definition cannot come from your own country. You have political leaders in the Developing world that acquiesce but it can be argued that they have little choice. Considering the US have killed African leaders, invaded nations and sanctioned other ones (like Zimbabwe) into Obilivion. A choice isn't a choice if you got a gun to your head if you make the "wrong" choice.
As a French guy I believe that the government should leave Africa and stop dictating our rules to Africans. End the francophonie and let Africans rule themselves . To each its own
Pas de soucis mais on arrête toutes les aides au "développement" (LOL), tous les visas et on encourage leurs ressortissants à rentrer chez eux afin de ne plus subir notre "horrible néo colonialisme"! Ils préfèrent les pillages de Wagner, grand bien leur fasse... Je suis allé pas mal de fois en Afrique Centrale, effectivement la Chine est partout mais dès qu'ils ont fini d'absorber toutes les ressources d'une région, ils repartent avec tout ce qu'ils ont construit, même les installations qui servaient aussi pour les populations civiles comme les génératrices électriques etc...
@@MrWhitmen1981 No need, just increase the means of FRONTEX and give it a mandate to block and repatriate all the migrants back to North Africa with the ships they used.
Some of the viewers are complaining about treating Africa as a single entity, while this is wrong, but we (Africans) even those of us who aren't from west Africa, have some negative issues with France and we stand with our siblings in west Africa, their misery is our's too
that's funny to infer that Africa should be considered as a single entity since the only thing you can count on in Africa is the different factions slaughtering each other on a regular basis .....
@@wrestlinganime4life288 I'm Algerian brother and don't I know it. Glad Algeria hasn't allowed any military bases and all that, the anti colonial mentality there is still strong. We know not to fully trust the French and their intentions
France was pretty unpopular even before the 2010s. When I was studying in Paris many years ago, I heard stories from West African students. They told me that when a very pro-French president of the Ivory Coast, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, died in the early 1990s, France irresponsibly left the West Afrcian franc (CFA) drop in value precipitously, thus damaging the economies of several nations in the region. I also heard that when one small country in West Africa (I forget which one) voted not to keep close ties with France after independence, the French were so vindictive that they took everything with them when they left, even the plumbing. But the most telling thing I learned about, in a course on international trade, was the French practice of imposing "cascading tariffs" on their former colonies in Africa. What this meant was that there were different levels of tariffs that the Africa had to pay to export their goods to France. The highest tariffs were charged for manufactured goods and the lowest were charged for commodities such as foodstuffs and minerals. This guaranteed that these countries would never develop economically. This was going on as early as the 1970s, if not earlier.
Regarding tariffs - that's a normal thing to do for every country. In case of France - if you're outside of the EU or don't FTA, you're eligible for any tariffs for your products being exported. Regarding political landscape - France is a stable democracy, which means that the government always changes from left to right usually every five years. Since you didn't write a year, based on the behavior of the French government I assume the left was in power, which usually advocates for zero intervention in Africa policy. African countries wanted their independence, they got it. But I just don't understand why do they expect for someone to come (be it France, China or Russia) and to fix all their problems, make them prosper, while they can continue doing nothing? And regarding WAF and CAF I would argue that it only helps African economies, as corrupt leaders would steal those money or just built some useless megaproject just for their ego. Like a safe upkeep. In fact, one the countries have left CFA (I don't really remember which one exactly). The reserves from Paris were returned... I think you can guess the ending - 3 years on, the money was gone in favor of the new palace, a coup happened and it asked to rejoin CFA again, but was rejected. Moral of the story - enough of blaming all your problems on others, waiting for saviors to make you rich and fix all your problems and build up your country by yourself - a first step of making your leaders accountable would be advisable.
Maybe TLDR should've asked an African correspondent. The vid seemed to focus more on French and Western influence versus Russian and Chinese influence acting upon African countries as opposed to internal changes in Africa that has changed their relationship with outside powers
Disappointed in no mention of France's role in deposing AU leader Gaddafi and in the destabilizing of Libya and its neighbors and thus the slowing down or derailment of African advancement projects that were in the works. Besides that France has been involved in a couple dozen coups or attempted coups, assassination or attempted assassinations and subversive or sabotage all over Africa, not forgetting apartheid and genocide and war crimes in Algeria.
Libya was already destabilized even before France did anything. Africa has never been on track as they spend more time increasing their demography rather than their infrastructures because banging your broke wife is easier than working.
France was behind the coup in Togo in January 1963 in which Sylvanus Olympio , the first president of Togo, was assassinated. France's policies in Africa are a disgrace and an insult to Africa and Africans.
Guessing nobody from TLDR will ever see this but on the off chance someone does: you guys might want to be a little more precise with how you talk about African countries/regions. It seems like most of what you’re talking about in this video concerns West Africa, and within that specifically the former French colonies in subsaharan West Africa. I get that it’s a 10 minute video and you guys have to be concise, but there’s an unfortunate tendency for western media to talk about “Africa” more as a single entity-like a country- than the massive, regionally diverse continent that it is. Talking about it this way also might give your viewers an incomplete picture, since they might assume that the trends you’re talking about (the coups, Wagner group involvement, etc) apply to the entire continent or even to all of France’s former African colonies when that isn’t entirely true (ex. Algeria and Madagascar). Video titles like “Why Africa and France Have Fallen Out” kinda reinforce this, since you’re comparing an entire continent to a single, comparatively small, country. It’s not that we can’t talk about Africa holistically as a continent or trends that effect it, but just like we do with other continents it might be a good idea to recognize more explicitly its regional diversity. Imagine talking about European politics if people rarely bothered to differentiate between “Western Europe” “Scandinavia” “The Balkans” or “Eastern Europe” and just said “Europe.” Things would get confusing! Sorry for the nitpick. Keep up the good work!
You must be the most insufferable person at any party. Literally noone interprets the video like you just described - you may as well just unsubscribe now tbh. Stop trying to find the tiniest things to cancel them over.
This was an incredibly fair way of putting it. Realizing the time constraint, but also empathizing with how others would feel if this was done to their continental region as a whole. Well done. It makes for an easier title at a small cost of accuracy. Not the biggest issue if they go into more details in the video. But I definitely get your point.
I’m a westerner who lived in east africa off and on for the last few years. It isn’t that america is losing the information war because propaganda is America’s strongest point. It’s that Africans can feel the disrespect and disregard for their interests. China does not intervene in local political affairs and even though they’re no angels, you know what to expect from them. Turkey, the gulf states, India and other emerging economies see great opportunity in developing east Africa so they can have a market to trade with. The usa and france care about keeping africa subservient, that’s why america is losing the African Cold War and will lose unless they change they’re strategy now but we all know they won’t.
The PRC mostly seeks its own network of clients. They're just less likely to regime change someone over HR abuses or demand they comply with what the IMF demands as long as port and resource concessions keep coming. I think places like South Africa also like to make a show that the EU zone shouldn't take them for granted. That India or Brazil etc are growing as important as they are. And what should France do, get their uranium elsewhere.
@Notmyrealname69420....Propaganda and the information warfare is not only the US strongest point but the Western world in general. The US have spewd anti-African propaganda since slavery. Western Europe powers who had colonies in Africa have been the nr.1 reason why people have the most distorted perceptions, stigmas and psuedo stereotypes about Africa because they are the ones who created all this racist vieuws on Africa. European elites knew the masses of Westeners are simpel minded working class people easy to influance with racist propaganda about Africa. Rightwing populist parties/ Alt-Right are doing the exact same thing over again. But this time Africans are more aware of it back in the days alot African people where somewhat brainwashed with colonial mindset through the colonial education at the time and the church. Many Africans are naive and always dance and sing when they see Europeans......but the Africans who are very sharp and understand the Western physcology, propaganda, warfare tactics understand the game are seen as extremly dangerous and those are the ones western powers have eliminated and still try to do.
@@r-uu2qi "maintaining stability" by training rebels in CAR and Mali? By arming the Touareg which turned north Africa into a slave market? And okay what humanitarian aid are you talking about? How much was sent to Cote D'Ivoire for example? 🤡
I agree, TLDR definitely treats Africa like it’s one huge entity. But in all fairness, I’d say virtually every country on the continent has some sort of issue with France one way or another. Whether it be the people or government
As someone living in an ex-colony, albeit less screwed than others, every time I see people confused about the international relationships of ex-colonies it always feels like the families of abusive ex-partners asking why they don't want to go back into a relationship with baffling and "honest" confusion. That being said, it often feels like ex-colonies just upgrade from wife-beaters to gaslighters.
There is a reason why ECOWAS countries are the poorest among the poorest continent. 500 billion as colonial tax per year is a kill shot. But sadly the ECOWAS-leaders were hand picked by the west to serve their interests. Such a coup is the only solution it seems.
The other issue is what currency could be more interesting than CFA Franc for ECOWAS, with the reform removing the need of depositing half of their foreign exchange reserves with the French Treasury.
It's pretty clear that France never really left the colonial era, for example if France has been a partner for over 50 years and those countries are still some of the poorest in the world, France was only taking resources from these people which is unacceptable. As African American person I would love for Africa nations to pull it together and really show the world how great Africa is. China & Russia however aren't saviors, it's just another form of colonialisim that is more palatable for modern audiences.
What ressources did they taken ? This area was always poor, way more rural than Nigeria, since the beginning. That's the reason why France got it during the scramble of Africa. UK saw it as too poor and too difficult to stabilize than Nigeria.
As an old man I have taken an interest in African history since the 1960s, especially pre-colonial history. The ideals of Marcus Garvey and Kwame Nkrumah are no more achievable in the near future than they were at the time. It took Western Europe about a thousand years of bloody interstate conflict to achieve whatever unity it has since 1945. It took the United Sates a bloody civil war in which more Americans died than in any of their other conflicts since, in order for the USA to emerge as a global power. Compared to when I was young, it heartens me to see the possibilities that many African Americans have been able to achieve for themselves. You know better than I do there is still a very long way to go. As for Africa, states were flung together artificially by colonial powers from outside, often putting peoples who were enemies for centuries under the same government. To achieve real unity in any single African country has not even proved possible in countries where there are very few different ethnic groups (OK Botswana may be the exception). As for unity between African states, sadly not during the years that are left to me.
Brother, I’m against neocolonialism but the reason African countries can’t have nice things is because your governments are beyond corrupt! Solve the corruption and watch you society flourish
No country is trying to "replace France with China or Russia." They're trying to replace unjust & parasitic business practices with fair and humane business practices. If France offers fair business practices, they won't be afraid of getting replaced by anyone else. All the French have to do is sign better business deals and they'll be in good terms with these nations.
if you truly believe thats whats gonna heppen if they stop cooperation with western countries you are naive beyond belief. And when famine and war roll over africa they will blame western countries for not doing enough to help... with that mentality they are doomed
Exactly, a white man who doesn’t know how to pronounce Malian doesn’t seem to understand that we as Africans are open to trading with any country that offers a fair competitive price.
LMFAO Imagine calling Wagner fair and humane after they finished committing genocide in Ukraine. The CCP is committing its own genocide again brown Muslims in Xinjang, too. I'm African, too, so hear me when I say that you should keep your hypocrisy to yourself.
Yes, we're moustache-twirling villains. Geopolitics aren't fair. Not going to complain when my country gets kick out of Africa, especially since China is picking up the tab, means they'll be begging us to come back in less than 10 years lol
Yeah....no. Either things goes better in Africa, and it means France was indeed doing shitty shit there, or things goes WORSE and then Africans can just go f themselves for losing the opportunity to finally rise thanks to their new better partners. In any case, France has nothing to do there anymore for the next decades to come. Let things heal themselves a little or fester and die, then back to better relations....or none at all, forever. Who knows.
@@PasDeBrasFRyou are delusional if you think anyone is gonna beg you to come back. No one begged Britain to come back after they left and best case scenario they forget about you. Worst case they continue to hate you for a good while.
As someone living in Cameroon (one of the former French colonies), I must say thank you for this very good video, TLDR. It does a very good job capturing the feelings and facts around the relationship between France and its ex-colonies. We rarely receive this kind of qualitative and accurate content covering this topic and presenting it to a large international audience, so thank you!
All I can say is the savages bite the hand that feeds them. Take a lesson from Ecwas or what ever silly little name you call it, they know who the master is.
Some of these channels are paid to shape narratives, you will not get accuracy. A number of them have shot up, appearing to give the 'perfect news' ; luring African youths in particular. Disinformation and misinformation is the game. Explosion of news on Africa , recently over 11 coups and still counting .... Proxy wars taking place, looking like 'Monster' is picking off France using ... Niger . Using young Military leaders in particular... Stirring & using our emotions over colonial injustices. Break through news ' another purveyors of the same BS; appearing to give information but interlaced with disinformation and misinformation.
@@iwasntaguntilimovedouttheh3961 Master my arse. Those "masters" depend on us, so who is the real master. Your effin country is in so much debt despite stealing our resources. Go figure that out first, savage.
This whole video is packaged as though France hasn't done anything "unfair" to it's African "partners" since colonialism, and that the only issue is that China & Russia waged an information war.. Has anyone in TL;DR even bothered to look into all of the MANY ways that France has hampered progress in all of those nations *AFTER* colonialism? Maybe that is also part of the issue here? It's only a West vs East issue if you (or China) want to paint it that way, but this is definitely just mostly about France's neo-colonialism
TLDR are pretty shallow and dishonest in the analysis. For example worrying about an information war yet most biased information comes from the West. Laughable really
How have they hampered progress? Despite their stint fighting in Algeria, France has done quite a bit for Africa during their tenure there. The CFA Franc is a reliable and strong currency, especially compared to other African currencies. Meanwhile, the Niger uranium trade is wholly beneficial to Nigers economy who simply can not access the industry with local capabilities. As well as that, if I'm not wrong, France gives about 16 billion Euro annually in foreign aid to Africa, which surpasses the entire GDP of Niger.
Yes, it's a very weak analysis. "Russia and China are evil, and so only misinformation can have led Africa to think they are better than France and the rest of the west." Yeah, right.
I feel like a lot of westerners don't like France, and get a bit of a thrill out of seeing France embarrassed or humiliated, in part because the French are stereotyped as very holier-than-thou, so it feels like a justified comeuppance. But I also think this attitude makes a lot of us just lazily assume that ANY anti-French sentiment, anywhere, is always entirely rational. This video does a good job of making the case for why anti-French sentiment in Africa is something we have to be able to consider carefully, and not just blithely dismiss as something the French "obviously had coming" and thus not worth thinking critically about from a geopolitical perspective.
True. The "france bad" meme was funny for a while, but some people used it as a pass to be outright xenophobic towards french people for no reason. This doesn't mean hating french colonialism is irrational, it just means that the general anti-french hate is irrational, or at least worthy of scrutiny.
I'm an American who has lived in China and currently South Africa. Colonialism in Africa is an incredibly complex topic, but if there's one uniting thread I've learned over the last decade, it's that it doesn't matter if your government is from Britain, the Us, China, Russia, or France--just stay the eff out of Africa and leave African nations to be governed by Africans, and let them own their resources. Many African nations are already dually taxed by foreign powers: their natural resources are stripped from them by foreign powers, paying Africans who mine them peanuts. Then, those same resources are refined and manufactured into phones and such elsewhere to be sold back to Africans at a premium. The profits go to the West and the East while the people who's land holds the resources get nothing but poverty.
It is the same thing for all countries, if a country does not have the capacity of transforming a resource, it sells the resource which is then transformed in another country with added value. It is not special to African countries. The only way for Africa to progress is to improve its level of education and at the same time industrialize itself.
@@pablobilbao9258 why do you think African don't have capacity?? What arrogance. Africans are with 1.5 billion people with no interference from the west, Africa would have easily 2 millions factories just like.China. Don't underestimated Africans people please. Do you know how many presidents were killed because they wanted to open factories to transform minerals and produce goods. Africans aren't even allowed to produce coffee packs, tea packs,.sugar packs nothing.....
so far africa is embracing the russian and chinese neocolonialism and its gonna get way worse bowing the knee to dictatorships. But hey dont say we didnt warn you.
Information War??? You mean like you are doing? I have lived in South Africa for all 56 years of my life and the Western actions have become clear to me. In fact, the last 130 years of Europe / American actions have been deviating for Africa.
@@catarinamelchiorgomes8750 So are most blacks and coloureds (Yes, the mixed race people here identify as "Coloured") here in South Africa, other than being white of course. Jy weet fokkol van wat hier aan gaan nie.
@@catarinamelchiorgomes8750 None the less, Even if I qualify as Western in your eyes, it doesn't mean I can't see what they are doing to Africa and so should you.
@@Santanibalak1 interesting lie but no. 1. Spanish 2. British 3. French 4. Russian 5. not a direct culture but America 6. Chinese 7. German 8. Turkish 9. Japanese 10. Arabs Any other claim is completly brainrotten and should get you arrested and forced to take history lessons
@@superfranky8054 but you are wrong historically india(BHARAT) is the world most population country also richest and Bharat hold around 33% of all world population In alone india turkish Race did genocide more than 500 million indians from 1526 to 1707 And brittish dirty blood Race also commit 500 million direct or indirect genocide in india from 1757 to 1947( more than 100 million people genocide in Just 1905 to 1935 Time) No one comes close to these dirty Race But I promise you both Race can't see 22th century
Getting neo colonialists out of the continent is good, but if it's just to replace them with other, just as brutal ones like Russia and China, then it's not an independence move, it's just choosing who's boots your leader in charge is gonna be licking It really seems like Africa as a whole will never be independent or at least fully sovereign, just some individual countries that could nail it
They want partnership not a dom / sub relationship, former colonial powers are viewed with mistrust among this new young generation of Africans especially in the Sahel
@@dym6464Random person: Lovingly embraces a cactus and a burning oven, dies horribly. Someone on the internet: "He just WANTED true love". Oh, now everything makes sense.
@@pabloagusti5104The whole reason there’s instability within the Sahel is NATOs intervention in Libya, the wests narrative to keep Africa in shackles is breaking
Firstly, there are 54 countries on the continent with different relationship with France, some like Gabon are strongly pro-France Western hypocrisy and atrocities is largely to be blamed for anti-western sentiments. You cannot claim to be pro-democratic when you actively support some of the most authoritarian and undemocratic government on the continent. Both the USA and France have actively and passively supported coups on the continent even against democratic elected government, but cry wolf when its not in their favour. Gabon a strong France ally has had two presidents in its history a father and son, Cameroon's Paul Biya has been in charge since 1975. Guess who has always stepped in to save these men when there is an attempt to remove them? Democratic France.
Felt like you should have mentioned Libya when that brief anti nato reason… That might be why, the defensive Alliance of the North Atlantic over threw Gadaffi
This channel is just puppet media pretending to be impartial. Every African leader than has spoken about an African alliance, single currency or unity has been killed by "the defensive Alliance of the North Atlantic".
Last time I checked France is part of Europe. A lot of Europeans seem to think they are from a group above this level of ugliness and call out others for doing the same thing. Granted France does do a lot of things that is opposite what other European countries are doing.
@@bambina5604 half of those 43 countries were part of another country during colonial times. Many of which had colonies outside of Africa... in general the only reason any of them finally gave up their colonies was due to it being too costly after the world wars, pressure from the US/native people, focus on rebuilding, and the Cold War.
Another European conveniently left out the most important part about how the CFA Franc works. How 80 percent of those 14 countries money have to go to the Bank of France. To get it back, it has to be in the form of a loan with interest, and only if France approves.
I have absolutely no idea how this currency works and I'm sure it's very boring to research. What I'm sure of is that at any time those countries can have their own money, currency or banking system. Maybe they still use this one because they estimate it's better, more stable, more advantageous for commerce, I have no idea. I'm just sure that they can have something else if they want.
You’re wrong on France being the only former colonial power to have military bases in Africa (the British have two training facilities in Kenya of course).
Well ... french former colonies are in Sahel , a sub-saharian era and quite poor place to live . Maybe France didn't help but it's to easy to put all the guilt on France @@RafaelAhlert
@@RafaelAhlertbecause the Brits left their colonies suddenly also leaving it to them to deal with their own problems leading to many harsh wars in the regions, aka they can still be blamed for going so far opposite of the french they created lots of problems too
Ah macron made big friends with Jinping, called the US essentially a neocolonial power in the pacific because they are making defence deals, and China responds to that friendship by dislodging him from Africa. Can’t help but find that rather ironic.
When a Chinese official visits us, we make deals for new roads, new bridges, and new energy infrastructure. When a Western official visits us, we are lectured about the LGBT community.
I always thought it was funny how in modern warfare 3 multiplayer some maps had generic pmcs vs generic African militia. But now it seems they may have been onto something
I'm moroccan, and whilst we are currently more stable than our sub-saharan brothers, even here the hate for france is growing, the majority of the population even want the ditch french as an official foreign language and finally replace it with english, we are reducing our economic connections with France in favor for Spain, China, the US... Overall, everyone agrees that France is no longer the way to go if we really care about our country's development. Unfortunately, this also means many people are slowly leaning towards supporting any anti-western propaganda.
yeah, im sick of that im from austria and always get thrown in with the brits and french, we never had any african colonies! its honestly kinda racist to generalize like that. And its will bite africa in the ass long term, hope they can be rational
@@captainalex157 It has brought me much joy and success in life. Seeing white Europeans finally getting paid back for their crimes is something we should all admire.
@@gfys756 it is racist to hate others based on race... If everyone would just see other humans as just humans instead of seeing race or ethnicity, then this world would definitely be better. Not that I think it'll be happening any time soon.
France has done so many terrible things that go unnoticed because they happen to not be the #1 superpower. After their colony Haiti gained its independence and the former slaves on the island seized the plantations, France forced Haiti to spend the next 122 years spending most of their GDP on paying back the French for lost property; to enforce this, they would show up with their navy and blockade the island.
The French are absolutely ridiculous for doing that. The British also lost "property" when they abolished slavery on all British soil including British colonies. You know what they did about their "lost property"? In 1833, Britain used 40% of its national budget to buy freedom for all slaves in the Empire. Britain borrowed such a large sum of money for the Slavery Abolition Act that it wasn’t paid off until 2015. This means that living British citizens helped pay for the end of the slave trade with their taxes." THAT is how it's done. You don't abolish slavery, free a colony, and then make the colony pay you back for everything you lost LOLLLLL. France is so dumb wtf.
As a Spaniard, I honestly believe that France should have left Africa long ago. What it did to Rwanda 29 years ago was and still is unforgivable. No African could ever forget the role France and the West had played in facilitating the genocide.
I respect the sentiment but at the same time, Spain's hands are just as dirty if not even dirtier than France's. Your nation built its colonial empire out of natives' blood and plundered their gold, keeping us brutally oppressed for over 3 centuries and even now pretty much all ex Spanish colonies are terrible places just like the ex French colonies in France.
i have no symphathy for France, the level of exploitation that they carried out of Africa is one of the darkest period in their history and i hope Africa stands unted against France
The problem is, if Africa were to stand up against colonisers it would be against the whole world… China is currently putting African countries millions in debt that they can’t pay off to stunt African growth The U.S. has abandoned their African allies like Liberia and South Africa, basically abandoning Africans Russia has been overthrowing African democracies to install pro-Russian dictatorships that oppress Africans
French hate in Africa is not only about geopolitics and commerce, but the attitude of France towards Africans. Take for example how France treats its citizens of African descent on its own country. Marginalization, racism, police brutality, etc
Not true...on the contrary. You can`t critizise Africans or Muslims in public anywhere in Western Europe. They are always the good ones, even stabbing, raping and killing. You are a hypocrat. Playing the victims does not make anything better. Self critizism is the key which most Africans are unwilling to practise. You are mainly oppressed by your own people. What about Mugabe, Taylor, Amin, Mobutu and so on? Nice dudes indeed...of course, because they are black. By the way: in Congo there are more than 600 millionaires, native millionaires.
I think French foreign policy needs to be modernized and doesn't reflect the geopolitics of 2023 at all. In the international media, the French government often refers to own colonies when explaining its foreign policy, and we, as modern citizens, cannot understand what they are saying, and sometimes it feels anachronistic. I think it's time for the people themselves to question whether Gaullisme, the foundation of French ruling ideology, is the right policy for modern France.
Whites hate blacks unfortunately. If France had used its old colonies as a manufacturing base then the current issues with China and Africa could have been avoided entirely! It could have been a win-win. People refuse to admit though that different colors don't like each other enough to let that happen. Many white French people would rather be neighbors with a white Ukranian fleeing the war with Russia than a black African from a former french Colony who grew up with French culture + schooling who is fleeing islamic terrorism fueled indirectly by French oil interests in the Sahel.
Give an example of French government referring to own colonies. I see people saying that a lot, but as someone who follow closely geopolitic, especially of France, I NEVER EVER saw that. For me, it's just an inferiority complex from Africans. This is how THEY perceive, this relation, not how it is. I will give you an example : During the first visit of Macron in Africa, he went to a university. After the speech, students asked him stuff like : "We have electricity problem in our university, how can you solve it". Macron was very thrown off by those questions and ended up saying that he was just the President of France, not their.
@@mrsupremegascon Oh, boy.. I'm not African. I'm simply saying that I couldn't understand the foreign policy in general. How do you evaluate the photo of Macron sitting at a long table with Putin at the early days of the Ukraine war? and also what do you think was the motivation behind Macron's words earlier this year when he met with Xi Jinping and stated that Europe should not be a 'vassal' in the US-China clash? The bottom line is this, France is the one of largest leader in the EU, But, Does the French president represent the voice of the rest of Europe well? I'm talking about diplomacy in general, not just in Europe. When I listen to foreign policy, I don't really understand what they are saying.
You're actually correct ands have hit the nail in the head with this analysis. Im from one of the francophone countries in africa and I watch some french media debate shows and to me it's crazy how out of touch they are with what's really going on. I think any expert advocating for Gaullisme should visit these african countries and speak with the locals...not the manufactured out of touch elites. If you actually did that you will get the real sense of whats been brewing for decades.
@@mrsupremegascon yea you got it, it's on their end they really they do think that France can save them not just from the Muslims but build their infrastructure. now they are praising putin when they arent ever going to get help from Putin they're just getting the Wagner group!
modern Africaine are saying like "why would we let France play with us like that why don't we make relationship with Russia or China and have more than one country in our continent and have them rivel between them "
So, a total hate and chasing everything French is not the wise way to proceed if the plan is to have them all present and all competing ? Also, think of countries like Japan or South Korea that can bring a lot more good things than China or Russia because those two countries are very crazy, or insidious. Japan or South Korea will be business, techno-oriented, etc... without cancerous ideologies. Hell, try Taiwan even ! Any reasonable African that has not had its mind rearranged by China and Russian information and opinion warfare should see a friend in this island-country resisting a much more terrible colonialism.
@@qrsx66 China has been the fastest growing economy in the world they produce almost everything so it will be cheaper than others and for Russia I just don't trust any other country that side with USA or the European Union
@@qrsx66 Both Korea and Japan have always had investment and deals in Africa. There is no reason to also exclude China and Russia for no reason. I'm saying this as an african we got help from the south koreans.
If you harbor an enemy in your family that's been planning and ready to destroy mine and I request you several times not to do so but you refuse to listen, then you're no longer my brother, I'll destroy yours before you destroy mine
OK, can you answer why it is ok? For the West to allow France to have as many military bases as they like in Africa. However, Russia is not allowed to have a military base in Ukraine.?
I don’t think it is fair to say that Africa hates France. I think a much better appropriate statement is “All people hate exploitive .” France is very exploitive. .
The point of using essentially the euro/ franc is arguably symbolic. Only French farmers may benefit because of higher African export prices while on the other hand raw materials from Africa become more expensive in France and Eurozone. You could have also mentioned Sarkozy's notorious speech in 2007 on African farmers living 'outside history', untouched by modernity and progress.
@@TR4Rhave you heard of the Amish? There are agrarian life styles all over the world, I’m sure Sarkozy could find some pretty humble French farmers if he cared to challenge his own narrative. But since you know so well, who are these people that have been “untouched” by history?
@@0oShwavyo0 Yes, I've heard and seen about the Amish and I deeply disagree with their way of life and their fanatical Christianity. There's also a little town in the Netherlands where the people live like that. I know a couple of things, not that much about Africa. I understand the offense in Sarkozy's words buy you won't have too much modernity in Eswatini, Niger or Somalia. It's not they haven't been touched by history, history has been a curse for them.
France preaches water and drinks wine let then survive on the trade they keep preaching to the world and leave Africa. You can't put what France 🇫🇷 has done in AFRICA in words, the video was too linient on France.
A few years ago I was watching a vid about British decolonisation, I came across a top rated post I translated saying "The French got to keep their colonies!" followed by appraisal from others. I thought it was a joke, the works of frustrated shitposters but this weeks been an eye opener! when I find it I'll amend this one.
the english never stopped their colonialism. canada, usakistan, australia are all english colonies that were NEVER returned to their rightful owners. in most of america, after the american wars of independence, the spanish at least had the decency of leaving......they kept all the stolen resources, but at least the land was returned to the rightful owners. in the parts of america the english took, the lands were never returned
The British still lobby Australlia for the Tempest fighter , the Type 36 Frigate and the Aukus Submarine . Previoulsy that was the Centurion tank ....🤣 Both are extremely costly project and Australlia isn't 100% sure she need them . @@KingAgniKai
Africa must be respected by the Western colonial masters, no more Western looting in Africa, no more Western puppets as presidents in Africa, we want to move forward and develope Africa, we are humans too.
France is no scapegoat, they are subjagators, they own the currency of the country controlling they financial culture, which they failed at. the insecurity is a result of their neglect.
@@TheCrimsonSporkwhen your agencies are spread all over the world and are famous for over throwing elected governments then any country's first guess will be you if shit like this happens . Some of you don't even know the type of things your secret agencies had done or are still doing to other countries. You were rarely ever told what USA agencies did with central America and south American elected governments .
There is no reason for the people to like a former colonial power. There is also no reason for the people to like a ruler allowing French soldiers to stay after independence.I will suggest that the former colonies should ditch French as official language. France's actions are part of its fanatic hostility to Islam.Let it pay for its sins.
One lesson of international politics is tha that it is always best to diversify. Never, ever rely on one partner on anything vital or you will regret because there is no such thing as gratitude or kindness in politics. There are only cynical actors fighting for their own interests. Always have an alternative.
that is why Africa wants to diversify away from France. But France does not want to diversify away from Africa's resources and wants to monopolize Africa.
@@mrsupremegascon Lol. "Africa represents nothing in French trade" Tell that to your rulers. Why do you think we are involved in this discussion? You are in denial or clueless. Why do you think France had troops in Central Africa Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger? Why did France go after Lybia and Ghadaffi? France is not in Africa to "help" Africa. They in there for their own interests. I come from Namibia and we supply Uranium to France. Niger also Supplies Uranium to France. France has mining companies in Africa and Total of France? How do you think they are in business? A simple Google will do you justice.
"The bird flies away, the crow nests in its place" - Azerbaijani proverb. African countries have yet to see the Russian and Chinese explotation, that's why warnings fom their former colonial masters matter little to them.
In the late 50's when Guinea became independent its president held a nationwide referendum on whether the country should remain part of the African - French monetary union. More than 90% of voters voted to leave the union and a bitter and spiteful France enacted what they sarcastically labeled "divorce without alimony": France immediately withdrew over 5000 of its citizens,who had held core and vital positions and thus experience and knowledge and expertise in civil service, education, technology, health, banking etc and INSTRUCTED them to sabotage or destroy anything they couldn't take back with them. This resulted in the sabotage, destruction, burning etc of entire school libraries, public records, medicines, labs, crops, labs, hospitals and clinics, agricultural and medical and scientific equipment, offices, military equipment etc. That sums up France's attitude towards Africa: if it can't control or gain then "fcuk you"
I don't get why they don't understand that France is a former imperialist power while Russia is a current imperialist power. There is no freedom to be had with Russia as your countries friend!
You need to understand why African countries prefer Russia over west. Russia has been fighting imperialism, helped Africans liberation movements in fighting the colonial masters. That’s not the narrative you’ll read about in western media. Africans will always side with Russians for not being a former colonizer. Afrika is still colonized physically and mentally, for Afrika to decolonize and feed itself from west is to unite. Afrika lost many leaders who wanted to unite the continent, west saw that a threat hence the assassinated Gaddafi under the pretext of “human rights abuse”i reality he wanted to form a united States of Afrika. There shall be peace once the west is out of Afrika, it’s not that Afrika need the west, it’s the opposite.
France's history with most former colonies are abusive. The violent war in Vietnam or the impoverishment in Haiti and Lebanon made France unlikeable. Africans definitely know it and thus this gives them sense of thinking that Russia could help them.
lol what ? france is responsible for the clusterfuck that is lebanon now ? that's a new one. they heard about ponzi schemes and thought that was a great economic plan, plus all of their politics are based on religion, but sure yeah that's all because of mean old france 🤪
As a Haitian, I’m very happy to see my African brothers throw off the last vestiges of colonialism. I’m very wary of Russia and China however. Haiti is going through the same issue now with many people supporting them because they spite the west. But the west has only itself to blame for that
I have heard a very old man history teacher lecturing us about the French and their colonial practice. He said after the Second World War, Britian retreated from most of her colonies to gain strength. But the French, they like turn back the clock, they were still obsessing with their way of colonialism......that's why they got their bloody nose defeated in the 1954 "Battle of Dien Bien Phu", Vietnam. His remarks was true, the stubborn Frenchy didn't change at all. "Turn back the clock" what a precise description of them!
Actually, originally France wanted to negotiate and wanted to grant Vietnam an independence. And it was very close. But here the US has come, saying you cannot allow the "red threat" to spread, we'll support you with all you need and then the French changed their decision from granting independence to a war
It’s strange that people think that switching France with Russia or Chinese interests will improve the situation. Why is it then that Russian and Chinese people moves by large numbers to the US and Europe, but never the other way?
@@handsfortoothpicks that infustructure comes at a price. High interest rate loans and when you can't pay them back, they take your resources. Ports, metals, minerals, whatever you have.
We Europeans 🇪🇺 should have first of all one and only one voice. Second of all, we should stop treating African countries as colonies but as partners. Convince, do not force
@@NoName-hg6cc To my knowledge the EU as a whole treats African countries as partners. As for France specifically? It sounds like it might have a different relationship with them.
@@HammochiKisrilk Well consider this: Your country has no doubt done terrible things in the past to it's neighbours and others. Yet I expect that you have been forgiven, particularly when that's been in the past and commited by others. It's your choice to forgive, but it's also up to others to forgive you.
@@The_Stef I'm not even going to waste my time answering this nonsensical question. Since you already on RU-vid type in Giorgia Meloni on Macron... and the Italian PM will break it down for you and once you've done that get back to me and share what you've learned
@@mntrader51 As usual, I'm not gonna assume you can answer the question if you're gonna tell me to go google your opinion. I am well aware of the recent outburst of Meloni, it's just a squabble between 2 politicians. You could start by taken Meloni's criticism and telling me what part you find a legitimate argument of French exploitation... Go ahead please
He's not telling you to google his opinion. If you actually watched the video the Italian PM breakdown how they are exploiting Niger. She explains how they control their currency and there are countless videos and news articles explaining how Niger is on the shit end of the stick with the uranium deal. You not googling someone's opinion you googling facts of a situation you clearly are opinionated on but know nothing about otherwise you wouldn't be asking that ridiculous question
@@The_Stef do you know the difference between opinion and proven facts of a particular situation. Im not gonna type an essay explaining the nitty gritty facts about how they're being exploited. I repeat there's countless content explaining the details of the uranium deal, how they control the currency even charging them fees that go straight to the french treasury and countless other things, watch the link. Research the topic. Im not gonna spoon feed you on a comment section. Read other comments on this very video many people are giving examples on how they being screwed over.
1:22 Nigeria and Gana have a GDP per capita 5× highter on avarage than the franco CFA zone. Not beeing a former french colony is a factor of relative sucess in the area.
Burkina Faso, Niger.. : LANDLOCKED Ghana, Nigeria : access to the sea, the Niger delta is a commercial and logistic hub. The brits took the best positioned places for commerce in Africa. Then the French took big landlocked areas that were left, they had an equvalent empire in size, but not well connected. It might sum to GEOGRAPHY why the French ex colonies perform worse.
France was never loved... not during colonial time, not after. French presence was convenient, at best. The French language was useful, especially in areas where dozens of different languages are spoken and a lingua franca is in order. The real story should be title "why Africa has finally decided to get entirely rid of France"
Oh yes, I'm sure they're done with France. Give it a few months and thousands of people will apply for French citizenship once the coup results in a bloody dictatorial regime, the elites will beg for Western financial aid... I'm sure they're "so done" with France.
It is long past time that the people of all countries had the right to rule themselves without the interference of other governments and multinational companies that think the people are too stupid to know what is best for them. In reality those outside interests are inflicting on others what is right for them and the local people are made to shut up and get on with it.
@@captainalex157 ALL African countries do have an absolute right to rule themselves as the people see fit. All too often, western politicians, militaries and companies see nothing wrong with imposing their own greed.
There are far more former French Africans in France today than there were ever French in Africa. So, the Africans must like something about their former overseers.
You totally forgot to speak about Gadaffi's assasination by France when this PanAfrican was about to unite Africa. But your sponsor most have nothing to do with this
Real talk, brother leader was a threat, Adrian unity is threat to the west. That why they created borders in Africa to create disunity amongst Africans.
This trend will only get worse. I'm a Cameroonian and I can tell you that we don't have independence practically bcos our currency, passport, syllabus etc are made in France yet they won't give us visas to go
It was be far more honest if Cameroon was able to break away from this control of currency, passports and even the syllabus than for Cameroonians to be looking for visas to go to Europe.
Why are French military bases in Africa or a American military bases in Africa. Russia and China don’t come with military bases. They actually invest and fairly pay for the minerals.
The french military bases are light ones that can be dismantled (like the ones in Mali were). They were put in place to face jihadism and are under the control of the countries in which they operate. Speaking about Russia, they are setting up military presence (wagner) using deals and they create debt traps, China does the same to grow its influence and is mass investing to own the most countries possible. What China often does is that they create projects, but don't use any local labor, but host country pays for it, and often deal is set up in such a way it isn't necessarily worth it anyways.
The Chinese migth pay and the Russians do not import minerals. They have enough of it in Siberia. By the way, Chinese despise and hate Blacks, they only use you by diplomacy...and you do not notice it. Have you ever been to China? Surely not.
This is what I hate how do you get a few countries and say the whole of Africa like that is being foolish its not the whole of Africa you cannot get a few countries in west Africa and use them as a proxy to measure what's happening every where on the continent like never your map shows its not even half of the countries o the continent just mention those countries now really does your analysis apply to Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Botswana, Tunisia , Madagascar etc Be serious and real
